Emergency numbers are used throughout the world allowing a user to dial a specific number from any phone to connect to an emergency number answering point (e.g., 911 in the U.S., 000 in Australia, 112 in the European Community, and 999 in the U.K. and some Caribbean islands). When an emergency number is dialed the call is routed through a switching system to the appropriate emergency number answering point (e.g., Public Safety Answering Point (“PSAP”) or Regional Public Safety Network (“RSPN”)), where the call is answered. Each emergency number answering point typically covers one or more metropolitan areas or at least one rural county. At the emergency number answering point the call taker determines the nature of the call and, if necessary, contacts the appropriate personal. The call taker can typically contact police, fire or emergency medical personal. The area covered by a single emergency number answering point typically includes several independent police departments, fire departments, and medical responders.
In enhanced systems when an emergency number is dialed Automatic Number Identification (ANI) information is transmitted along with the voice information to the emergency number answering point. A device at the emergency number answering point uses the ANI information to look up the documented street address location from the Automatic Location Information (ALI) database. The street address is displayed on the call takers display when the street address location is available.
The street address location transmitted from the ALI database for calls placed through a private branch exchange (PBX) creates obstacles. When a call is placed through a PBX the emergency number answering point in most cases, only receives the demarcation address of the trunk installed for a particular PBX. Therefore, unless the caller informs the call taker that they are calling from a particular location the call taker would only be able to dispatch personal to the demarcation address of the trunk installed for that PBX, and not to the specific location of the telephone which was used to place the call. As a result, any dispatched personal risks arriving at an incorrect location, which could be detrimental to particular situations. A PBX may be used across multiple floors, campuses, or even multiple buildings that are miles apart. Some PBX providers allow users to input the physical location of their telephone lines.
When a call is made from a mobile telephone location information is more difficult to ascertain. As the phone is mobile the call may originate from a location distinct from the billing address. Therefore, additional methods are needed to determine the location of the call. In the U.S. new mobile phones are required to provide their latitude and longitude to the emergency number answering point in the event of an emergency number call. The mobile phone carriers may choose whether to implement transmit this data via GPS chips in each phone, or via triangulation between cell towers. Due to the limitations in technology of the mobile phones, cell phone towers, and emergency number answering point equipment, a mobile caller's geographical information may not always be available to the emergency number answering point.
Regardless of the type of phone that originates a call to an emergency number (residential, PBX line, mobile, or voice over internet protocol (hereinafter “IP”)), at most only location information is displayed at the emergency number answering point. Furthermore, the current systems lack the ability to automatically notify predetermined contacts that an emergency number was initiated from a particular line.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,670 issued to Pons et al. on Sep. 8, 1998 is directed to a private notification system that provides detailed information about a subscriber to a private command center when a subscriber dials 9-1-1. The command center personnel can then contact those persons pre-selected by the subscriber of an emergency. The call center personal must physically notify those persons pre-selected by the subscriber after receiving notice that a subscriber dialed 9-1-1. This is inefficient as automated systems more effectively communicate notices. The private notification system can further provide detailed information about a particular subscriber. However, this is done though a private communication bridge requiring an additional connection and software at the emergency number answering point.
Therefore, automatic notification is desired. There is a need for an efficient means for automatically notifying pre-determined persons that an emergency number has been dialed from a particular line.
Further, a device that can automatically transmit detailed information about the subscriber through existing systems is desired. There is a need to automatically provide additional information to an emergency number answering point without significantly modifying the existing systems.